


You'd Like Them

by NorthernGhost



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Drunkenness, F/F, Old Friends, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27251809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorthernGhost/pseuds/NorthernGhost
Summary: After a drunken night out, Aloy begins to reminisce on some truly old friends to Talanah, although her memories may not exactly be hers.
Relationships: Aloy & Elisabet Sobeck, Aloy/Talanah Khane Padish
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	You'd Like Them

Talanah nearly tripped across the doorway to her apartment as Aloy’s weight suddenly leaned into her much more than she was expecting. The Carja let out a cry of surprise, staggering forward before catching the two of them before they both collapsed onto the couch. With a sigh, she glanced over at her charge, finding the redhead laughing as she attempted to help right herself, but her balance was already tipping the other direction.

“You’re no help,” the Carja sighed.

“Help?” Aloy croaked. “Thought… you’re  _ my _ help!”

“It was supposed to be a group effort,” Talanah sighed, but her grin betrayed her as she began to lead the redhead down the hallway on the right side of the living space.

When they finally reached the bedroom door, she was forced to release Aloy’s hand over her shoulder to twist the knob, but she kept one arm tightly wrapped around the redhead’s middle to prevent her from falling. As she guided the staggering Aloy into the room, she felt the other woman’s weight leaning on her even more than before and she redoubled her efforts to reach the bed. Just as they did, Aloy’s legs seemed to give out and Talanah carefully pushed her forward, dropping the redhead onto the soft surface to a chorus of laughter from her.

The Carja straightened up, sighing heavily as she attempted to adjust her tunic from where Aloy had very nearly pulled it loose in public before giving up with a sigh and turning to push the door to the room closed behind them. Turning back to the bed, she found the redhead still lying face down, although her hands had curled into loose fists around the blanket beneath her.

“To think I thought you were handling your liquor well, tonight,” Talanah quipped, smirking as she crossed the room, fully undoing her tunic and dropping it into the small basket beside the bureau in the corner.

“You… sound like… Travis…”

The Carja paused for a moment, one hand reaching toward a cotton sleep shirt, before glancing over her shoulder toward the bed. Aloy was beginning to push herself to her hands and knees, crawling toward the head of the bed. Sucking her cheek between her teeth for a moment, Talanah grabbed the shirt and made her way toward the bed. The redhead had fallen onto the bed, once again, on her back, and was busy wiping at her eyes with one hand as the Carja approached. When Aloy’s hand finally fell away, her eyebrows raised as her unsteady gaze seemed to focus on Talanah.

“Did I do that?” she slurred, laughing almost immediately after.

“No, but can’t say you didn’t try,” Talanah shot back, smirking as she pulled the sleep shirt over her head, letting it fall loosely about her before taking a seat on the edge of the mattress. “Who’s Travis?”

The sound of Aloy’s laughter quickly began to fade as the Carja paused in her motions to undo her boots. Glancing back at the redhead, she found a strange, almost wistful expression had settled over her features.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to pry…”

“No, no…” Aloy muttered, shaking her head and blinking several times. “He… he was an old friend.”

Talanah nodded slowly, turning back to finish undoing her boots and kicking them off across the room. A few moments later, she had shed her bright, cloth leggings, as well, and threw them in the direction of the bureau. With a sigh, she turned back to the redhead behind her, lifting her legs onto the bed and pulling herself toward her.

“Old friend… from the Embrace?” she pressed, propping herself against the pillows beside Aloy with one arm.

“Naw,” the redhead shook her head. “Older.”

Talanah froze for a moment as she stared intently at the other woman’s face for a moment or two. Finally, she swallowed the heavy lump in her throat.

“Take it he was a good friend.”

“He was a good drinker,” the redhead laughed. “Also a huge pain in my ass.”

Talanah grinned as she adjusted her position slightly, already feeling the telltale signs of her arm going to sleep.

“Doesn’t sound like anyone I know,” she quipped.

“You two would’ve gotten along,” the redhead said. “You both love to give me shit. He’d ask you to show him all the best bars in the city.”

The Carja’s grin remained as she glanced toward the foot of the bed and sat up with a sigh. Aloy’s boots were resting atop the blanket, as she had evidently not had the foresight to remove them, herself, so Talanah began attempting to do so for her.

“I wish you could have met all of them.”

The Carja paused, glancing up toward the redhead’s face with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah…”

Talanah turned back to her task, quickly untying the boots and pulling them off the redhead before throwing them in the direction of the far wall with a loud clatter. Sighing, she crawled back toward the head of the bed, taking a position close to the other woman’s side, prompting the redhead’s arm to quickly slide beneath her, wrapping around her back and pulling her closer.

“Margo was so… bright-eyed,” the redhead continued softly. “She was smart—more than she’d give herself credit for—but lots of others underestimated her.”

Talanah felt the redhead’s fingers beginning to trace slow circles in the center of her back as the Carja laid her head on her shoulder, draping one arm across the other woman’s stomach.

“She taught GAIA how to build robots, you know.”

The raven-haired woman’s eyebrows raised as the redhead laughed.

“She had to start somewhere…”

“So she didn’t help with APOLLO?” Talanah asked.

The redhead paused for a moment before swallowing heavily and shaking her head, a touch of greater sadness mixing in with the existing wistfulness.

“That was all Samina and her team.”

“I know that name,” the Carja said, smirking.

“APOLLO was her baby,” the redhead laughed. “After… after what… that  _ fuck _ did—”

Talanah recoiled at the forcefulness of her tone on the singular word, but the redhead simply took a deep breath before continuing.

“I’m… so glad… we found the backups,” she finished. “It… through APOLLO… I can almost pretend… she lives on…”

The Carja took a deep breath in through her nose, adjusting her position as she nuzzled her face further into the silk fabric at the redhead’s shoulder.

“All of them do,” she said softly. “Through the world outside… through me… through you… through GAIA…”

The redhead heaved a heavy sigh, her grip around the Carja’s back tightening as she raised her other arm to more fully wrap her in an embrace, turning her head so that her cheek came to rest against the top of Talanah’s head.

“You’re too good, Talanah,” she muttered.

The Carja found herself grinning as she adjusted her grip about the redhead, as well.

“There were more than just those three, right?”

The other woman nodded before beginning to describe the rest of the small group, her tone soft but conveying the smile on her face without the Carja actually seeing it. Talanah let her continue, listening to the still seemingly somewhat drunk stream of thoughts that seemed to drift from one location to another at will, occasionally even looping back around to an earlier point. Even if it wasn’t entirely coherent, the raven-haired woman found herself simply taking in as much as she could, her eyes sliding closed as she listened.

Just before she felt herself beginning to slip into sleep, herself, she heard the redhead’s voice come to a stop for a moment, prompting one of her eyes to open as she attempted to look up at her, once again, but it was nearly impossible from her current position.

“You’d’ve liked them…”

Talanah found a grin tugging at her lips, once again, as she adjusted her position, sighing.

“I’m sure I would.”


End file.
